Auricular Acupressure for Pain Relief in Labour : A Systematic Review
and Meta-Analysis
Abstract
ABSTRACT Background Labour pain ranks consistently among the most severe
types of pain that a woman will experience during her lifetime and leads
harmful effects on both mother and baby. As a complementary method,
auricular acupressure has been used in the pain management for many
diseases and many RCTs showed it has a pain-reliving effect in labour.
However, no meta-analysis has been conducted to provide systematic
evidence for pain relief in labour. Objectives To perform a systematic
review to assess the efficacy of auricular acupressure for labor pain.
Search Strategy PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science
databases, SinoMed, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP were searched for studies
using keywords “auricular acupressure” combined with “labor” and
“RCTs.” Selection Criteria: Eligible criteria included RCTs, full-text
studies, English, and Chinese literature, whereas exclusion criteria
included incomplete information, duplicated publications, and studies
combined with other analgesic methods. Data Extraction and Analysis: The
selection of eligible items and assessment of methodological quality
were performed independently by two researchers. A meta-analysis was
performed to analyze the treatment effects on pain intensity reduction,
maternal satisfaction and safety. Main Results: 17 RCTs were included in
this review involving a total of 2574 parturients. Auricular acupressure
showed significant efficacy in the reduction of pain intensity and
improvement of maternal satisfaction. Conclusions: Auricular acupressure
showed a pain-relieving effect compared with the routine care. Although
the evidence is limited and high quality studies are needed.